Good Food for All

Daily Digest: Go for the Gold Campaign and LINK at Chicago Farmers Markets

Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign officially launched the Go for the Gold Campaign, in partnership with USDA Midwest, as part of the HealthierUS Schools initiative to promote healthier school environments.

Food & Water Watch has produced a blueprint for a healthy food system, in preparation for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill in 2012.

Walgreens is converting some of its Chicago stores into full-service grocery stores.

Fed Up with School Lunch, a blog written by a teacher in Illinois who is eating school lunch for a year, volunteered at Common Threads summer camp at Kennedy-King College in Englewood.  Read her post(s) here.

City governments are growing food for local food pantries from Madison to Des Moines.

Check out the updated Jobs and Opportunities page at Good Food for All.

LINK cards are currently accepted at five Chicago farmers markets.  Groundswell Films produced this short video below on the LINK program. Read more about The Experimental Station, which began the pilot program this year.

Daily Digest: Inspired by Slow Money (ISM), Mobile Food Collective and School Lunch Reform

Community Food Security Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition released a report, "Real Food, Real Choice", detailing the obstacles for SNAP participants to redeem benefits at farmers markets.  Download the full report here. 

The Mobile Food Collective visited Logan Square Farmers Market this past weekend.  Check out the video and blog for upcoming events. 

An increasing number of local Illinois farms are offering "haycations" for families.   

Civil Eats offers insight on last month's Slow Money National Gathering. Watch this video to learn about "ISM" = Inspired by Slow Money. 

The House Education and Labor Committee passed the "Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act".   Both bills are now on the House and Senate floors and must be passed by each chamber before becoming law. 

Daily Digest: Local Food Legislation, Prairie Crossing and Increasing Local Food Purchasing in Illinois

Gov. Pat Quinn signed two important pieces of legislation on Saturday, both promoting local food.  The  Farmers' Market Technology Improvement Act (HB 4756) will allow for more Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) machines at farmers markets to accept LINK cards.  

The second (SB 615) will create a Farm-to-School database on the Illinois Department of Agriculture website in order to facilitate fresh food purchasing for schools, effective Jan. 1, 2011. 

FamilyFarmed.org released an action plan and feasibility study on increasing fruit and vegetable production in Illinois.  Download the full report here. 

FamilyFarmed.org and Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality are also partnering to increase local food purchasing for Chicago Public Schools to over $2 million.  Download the Request for Information (RFI) and the press release here.  

Breaking Through Concrete features Prairie Crossing and Sandhill Organics this week, along with a video of Mike Sands, Executive Director of Liberty Prairie Foundation. 

Mike from david Hanson on Vimeo.

Daily Digest: Breaking Through Concrete, New Food and Agriculture PRI Fund and Upcoming Events

RSF Social Finance officially launched their Food & Agriculture Program-Related Investing (PRI) Fund.   

Breaking Through Concrete (BTC) is a nationwide tour of urban farms in America.   BTC recently visited Growing Home's Wood Street Farm in Chicago to learn more about Growing Home's job training program.  

A new USDA Economic Research Service study examines the potential obesity-reducing effects of soda taxes. 

Jewel Osco is looking to shift its product selection as Wal-Mart prepares to build multiple stores in Chicago.  

Good Food for All has an updated Event Calendar, with many more events thanks to ChicagoRegen.com. 

Daily Digest: Feeding Chicago's Refugees, Albany Park Theater Project, and Farm to School Legislation

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago released a Chicago Food Industry White Paper, based on recommendations from last year's Farm to Fork Conference.  Also, a Chicago and Illinois Handbook for Food Entrepreneurs is now available online. 

Slow Food USA profiles Chicago Honey Co-op and their many contributions to communities in Chicago. 

Worldview on WBEZ features the work of Heartland Health Outreach, an organization providing food and nutrition assistance to refugees in Chicago. 

The Albany Park Theater Project, a multi-ethnic youth theater ensemble, will perform "Feast" from April 2 - April 24th.  In preparation for the production, APTP visited Mint Creek Farm in Central Illinois. 

Many school nutrition policy developments are taking place, including the introduction of national Farm to School legislation, as well as continued debate about the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. 

More press about the recent FamilyFarmed Expo is available here.  

Daily Digest: Illinois' Healthiest Counties, Farmers Market Forums, and Healthy Food Financing Initiative

The Obama Administration released more details on the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. 

Register here for an upcoming Farmers Market Forum in Carter, Rockford, Urbana, or Chicago, IL.  

View the new members of the Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Council.  The first meeting of the council will take place on Wednesday, March 3rd in Springfield, IL. 

Healthy Youth Partnership in St. Louis is organizing a Regional Food Summit next week.  

Chicago aldermen are proposing a ban on foam food containers in Chicago Public Schools. 

Suburban and small farming areas rank as some of Illinois' healthiest counties, according to a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

A new resolution in the Illinois General Assembly would create an identification system for sensitive crops in order to reduce chemical drift.  

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities 

Daily Digest: Urban Agriculture in Detroit, Kitchen Chicago and Mobile Gardens

Small business owners in Chicago have mixed reactions to SBA loans provided under the federal stimulus program. 

"The Mike Nowak Show" dedicated this past Sunday's show to talk about the health inspections at Kitchen Chicago, an incubator for small food businesses.  Watch the video of the inspections here. 

OrganicNation.TV profiles a Chicago aquaponics operation, near Bridgeport.

Detroit urban planners are helping rewrite zoning regulations to allow for more urban gardens. 

Advocates for Urban Agriculture, a coalition of organizations and individuals advocating for urban agriculture in Chicago, is sponsoring a logo competition. Entries are due by March 15, 2010.  Visit the AUA website for more information. 

A mobile garden project with CTA is currently under development. 

In relation to the Let's Move campaign, New York Times columnist Mark Bittman asks,  is soda is the new tobacco? 

Photo credit: New York Times  

Daily Digest: Chicago Health Department Throws Out Local Fruit Used in Communal Kitchen

Due to licensing discrepancies, the Chicago Health Department destroyed local fruit used by small business owners at Kitchen Chicago, a shared community kitchen.  

Beyond USDA, government agencies can play a significant role in supporting local food systems. Read the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's full report.  

Out of 26.8 million acres of farmland in Illinois, only 0.1% is devoted to organic production. 

Angelic Organics Learning Center is organizing season extension, bee keeping, and backyard chicken workshops in the coming months.  Register here. 

According to a 2009 Gallup poll, 17.2% of Illinois households are food insecure. 

USDA will initiate a series of reforms to improve school lunch safety standards. 

 In addition to the $50 million allocated for USDA and the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, there will be $250 million in the 2011 budget for the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund "to expand financing for access to healthy foods."

(Photo credit: Fed Up: School Lunch Project) 

Daily Digest: Chicago Food Policy Summit, French Market, and National Fresh Food Financing Initiative

Tickets for the upcoming 5th Annual Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council (CFPAC) Summit are now available for purchase online.  The FamilyFarmed EXPO and the CFPAC Summit will take place March 11-13, 2010. 

The President's proposed 2011 budget will include funds for the National Fresh Food Financing Initiative. In addition, farm subsidies would be reduced and $10 billion would be allocated for nutrition programs. 

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is reducing the budget for the Meat and Poultry Inspection Program by 50%, which will result in fewer state meat inspectors at small slaughterhouses. 

Chicago's newly opened French Market at Ogilvie Transportation Center is adding four new vendors. 

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities

Daily Digest: Backyard Poultry, Food mapping tools, and National School Lunch Week

WTTW featured a segment on keeping chickens in backyards, and why some residents in Evanston are ignoring the ban. 

A new Michigan wetlands law could help boost the cranberry industry. 

As of Oct. 1, a new WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) food package is being offered, which includes more fruits and vegetables.  Read more details here. 

Oct. 12-16 is National School Lunch Week. Learn more about the 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the Time for Lunch campaign. 

The Connecticut Attorney General plans to investigate the Smart Choices program. 

Healthy Affordable Food for All, a coalition of hunger and food justice organizations in Washington, D.C., has a project called DC Food Finder.  This comprehensive mapping tool lists low cost grocery stores, nutrition and cooking classes, community gardens, farmers markets, and much more.